China's trials of two US-connected Chinese scholars did not appear to have begun yesterday, a day after the US said Beijing had confirmed the cases had gone to court.
The usually well-informed Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said it was told by a Beijing judicial official that the espionage trial of Li Shaomin (李少民), a US citizen, had not started.
There was also no confirmation that China had started to try the separate case of Gao Zhan (
News that the trials were under way "could possibly be erroneous," the Hong Kong center said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Beijing Intermediate People's Court declined to say if Li or Gao was being tried yesterday. "Come back in person next week," he said.
Western diplomats following the cases said they too were unable to confirm the trials had started.
On Thursday, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing that "the Chinese government has confirmed to us that the trials for Li Shaomin and Gao Zhan are under way."
Media reports have suggested the trials could be complete by July 9, setting the stage for the scholars' release or expulsion.
When asked about Li and Gao, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue (章啟月) told a news conference on Thursday that "at present, their cases are being processed according to law." She declined to give any details of the trials.
Freeing the scholars would remove a major irritant in US-China relations. The cases of Li, Gao and other detained academics have been championed by Congress and raised at senior-level US meetings with the Chinese.
China also faces a crucial vote by the International Olympic Committee on July 13 in Moscow on Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Games.
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